


Our Friendship Ended Up Not Being Fake

by luvtheheaven



Category: Glee
Genre: Beards (Relationships), Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-28
Updated: 2013-11-16
Packaged: 2018-01-18 01:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1409212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtheheaven/pseuds/luvtheheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fake romance doesn't mean Santana and Karofsky are immune from developing real platonic feelings toward one another. This fic explores, over multiple chapters, what dating as beards actually was like for them. The canon Kurtofsky & Brittana is assumed. Other characters including Santana's & Dave's parents will appear. ;) Enjoy the fic!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Date – Ever.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm planning to make each chapter alternate points of view – so chapter 1 is Karofsky, chapter 2 will be Santana, chapter 3 back to Karofsky, etc.

Dave remembered the first time he ever met Santana Lopez. The cheerleader from Lima Heights Adjacent had started dating Noah Puckerman not very long into freshman year, and Karofsky had officially been introduced to her at a victory party at Breadstix after a football game that McKinley had managed to win. Dave remembered the other guys on the team commenting on how lucky Puckerman was and how hot the Latina's body looked. He remembered Santana and Puck lip-locked for half the party, unable to keep their paws off of one another, or so it seemed. Realizing how much he had to _pretend_ to agree that she was sexy had been one of the experiences that confirmed to Dave that something was wrong with him. He wanted so badly to be interested in a girl like her. But while he could understand how she was objectively attractive, he didn't feel drawn toward her in the slightest.

He noticed when she joined the glee club because one of Azimio and his favorite things to do at school was to slushie the losers, but mainly, she stayed off of his radar once she was no longer dating Puck. He didn't even realize she had begun a romance with Sam Evans, a current football player.

Santana only became an obsession of his once she walked into the otherwise deserted hallway where he'd been having a pretty personal "conversation" with Kurt and that loser he hung out with from his new school, almost finding out the secret that he could not _bear_ anyone knowing. Dave wasn't sure how much she'd heard, but Blaine had just said something about how he was living a lie, he'd then mentioned how the three of them knew what was _really_ going on, and then Blaine had started a physical altercation in which Santana intervened. While Santana was standing right there, Kurt had even _continued_ talking about the matter at hand, calling Dave a coward about "the truth" and thankfully leaving things pretty vague, but still… now Santana knew something was up. And Dave _hated_ Kurt and Blaine for that.

At the end of that encounter, Santana had called him a douchebag and chased him away, threatening him with her own brand of physical violence. So the next week in school, when she was waiting outside of the gym locker room immediately after a football practice, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous. He put on his tough guy façade, though, and tried to ignore the fact that she was there at all, pretending he didn't even notice her.

"Hey. Abominable Snowman!" Santana called over to him as he walked by her.

He hesitated, trying not to think too hard about what that nickname insinuated, and turned back to her.

"What?" he answered slowly, with a sneer.

"Would you like to go out on a date with me?" she proposed, cocking her head to the side slightly and sending him flirty eyes.

"Um…" he faltered, taken aback. He'd certainly not been expecting that. She didn't even give him a chance to answer, though.

"Meet me at The Lima Bean in an hour," she said, walking up to him and smiling. She grazed his hand with her fingertips, then turned sharply and walked away confidently.

Dave looked after her, wondering what the hell had just happened.

* * *

He had been planning to go home after practice, but now Santana wanted him to meet her at that coffee shop and he didn't want to be late. Plus, what would be the point of wasting that gas to spend maybe five minutes in his house before having to leave and head out again? So he stayed in the locker room, even after all of his teammates cleared out. He needed to kill some time. So he lingered, no one around to distract him from his thoughts.

He realized that he didn't want to screw up this opportunity. Santana, for some reason, seemed romantically interested in him. After Finn had called him out on never having a girlfriend a few months back, he had kind of been wishing he could have a girl on his arm to prevent anyone from suspecting he might be gay. He intended to ask a girl to the prom. That had been his newest goal, a goal he'd made as the posters with the heterosexual couples running for king and queen started going up. He was delaying going out with anyone for as long as possible, because he was dreading the idea of having to try to kiss a girl and risk it being obvious that she wasn't his "type". But apparently Santana was doing his job for him, a few weeks early. She wanted to go on a date with him, so he was determined to try his hardest to make this work. A part of him even hoped maybe being with her would turn him straight.

This would be his first date – ever – and he looked in the mirror above the locker room sinks and wondered if there was anything he could do to properly prepare. Maybe he should wash his face? Yeah, that was probably a good idea. He turned the faucet on.


	2. Blackmailed

Santana sat across from a Karofsky, who was _clearly_ not enjoying her rundown of how he was "a late-in-life gay". He scowled at her, but as she went on with her speech, his annoyance seemed to fade ever-so-slightly, in favor of some other emotion.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked her, and she could hear genuine vulnerability showing through in his voice. His eyes looked pleading, and despite the fact that he probably weighed twice as much as her and had way more power in his social status at school at the moment, she was pleasantly surprised by how much control she'd clearly managed to possess.

Santana couldn't let herself feel bad for him. She needed to keep going with what she had planned.

"Because I need you," she answered nonchalantly. "And you need me," she added.

It was just that simple. But then she paused. She thought about it, and she realized Dave here deserved to know the full truth. She had just caught him off guard by telling him she had deduced his homosexuality. She couldn't help but feel a little bad about it. After all, she would be horrified if someone had done the same to her. Not that it would ever happen, since she was well known for sleeping with pretty much every guy in school, but… still.

"We play on the same team," she admitted, her volume just a tad bit lower.

Karofsky studied her eyes. She didn't hide her dead seriousness.

"You're…?" He seemed afraid to assume what she was trying so hard to say, without really saying it.

"Look, I'm not ready to start eating jicama, or get a flat-top yet, either," she replied. She wasn't _that_ kind of lesbian, at least not at this point in her life. "Maybe in junior college," she suggested, thinking perhaps in a few years she'd feel more ready to embrace that lifestyle. Who knows?

Karofsky only acted shocked about Santana's sexuality for about one second, though, before going back to denying his obvious true nature.

"This is garbage! I'm not…" he lowered his voice a few decibels before finishing, "gay."

Santana was getting frustrated.

"I'm _trying_ to help you out here! Have you ever heard of the term 'beards'? It's when a gay man and woman date each other to hide the fact that they're gay. Like the Roosevelts."

Dave looked around awkwardly, clearly afraid all this 'gay' talk would be overheard by someone. Santana knew he was just being paranoid, though. She continued explaining her plans to him.

"So you and I are going to be each other's beards. And then we're gonna win Prom King and Queen and rule the school."

"And what if I say, 'no'?" he asked, his arms now crossed over his chest. She wasn't sure why he was not just accepting the brilliant idea. But she was used to being cutthroat, if she needed to, to get what she wanted. Unfazed, she continued.

"Then I'm gonna tell everyone about you, and your life will be over." She watched as he sunk down in his seat, defeated, her words having the desired effect. "Only straight I am is straight up bitch," she justified, shrugging. "You in or not?"

He looked up at her, nervously. She waited patiently. Obviously he was going to say yes.

"Fine," he begrudgingly accepted. "What do I have to do?"

"Well…." Santana considered where to start. "Kurt has to come back to McKinley."

"What?!" he practically yelped. Santana scowled, a little confused by his reaction.

"I don't know exactly what shit you gave him that got so bad as to have him feel the need to transfer. You want to tell me what you did?"

Karofsky narrowed his gaze. She crossed her arms and waited for him to say something.

"I was just giving him a hard time," Dave answered after an awkwardly long pause. He remained vague and Santana was pretty sure he was not being entirely truthful.

"You picked on him for _years_. I find it _extremely_ hard to believe he would transfer schools because of your usual anti-gay remarks and even the shoving, after he seemed pretty well able to handle it for a long while."

Karofsky looked down. Clearly what Santana was saying was ringing true for him. Satisfied with herself, she leaned back and waited for him to admit what really went down.

"It doesn't matter! Okay?" Karofsky begged.

"I beg to differ," Santana insisted. "Just tell me. Did you actually hurt him more than you usually do with your shoves or something?" A dark thought crossed her mind. "Did you make him bleed? Break a bone?" She was a little scared. What kind of monster was she trying to get in bed with? She really had no clue.

"I'll tell you when we're not in public, okay?" Dave breathed, giving in halfway. He was not prepared to spill whatever the beans were here where someone might overhear, apparently.

Santana sighed, disappointed, as well as remarkably curious.

"Fine. Okay but we need to get Kurt to come back to the school. Which means you're going to apologize to everyone in our glee club as well as to Kurt himself, and also you'll start an anti-bullying club with me."

"There's no way I'm doing that! What?" Karofsky replied incredulously.

"Um, yes you are, unless you want me to tell everyone your little secret. And believe me, I will."

"What would an anti-bullying club even do?" he asked, starting to resign.

"I came up with the name The Bullywhips," she responded, proudly. "We can roam the halls wearing special jackets… hats too, probably… and stop any bullying we see in progress. We will enforce a no-bullying policy at this school and help make everyone, including Kurt when he returns, feel safe."

Dave took a moment to think it over.

"But why can't we just wear our normal clothes?" he replied, begrudgingly accepting the rest of it by not remarking on it.

"Because the outfits will make people feel extra safe," Santana explained. "Like when a cop is nearby and you know just by looking that this guy has the power." Or woman, she mentally added, realizing the sexism in her statement a few seconds too late. Women, especially lesbians, could be cops. She realized she actually might enjoy that line of work. Being all badass and powerful. It would be kind of fun.

"Fine," Dave said. "I'll go along with it. I don't have a choice, right?"

"Right," Santana replied.

"So you said something about prom king and queen too?" he then asked.

"Mm-hmm," Santana confirmed. "I want to rule this school. And I think together, we can make this work."

"Okay," Dave said. He wasn't up for fighting anything she was saying anymore. "So how will we start this process?"

"Come over to my house after school tomorrow," Santana answered. Tomorrow was Friday. "We can do it over the weekend if that works better for you. Just let me know when you have time. I'll help you prepare a speech to say to Figgins and the Glee club, and we can even design the outfits for the bullywhips."

"Wait- what? I don't do gay stuff like that."

"Designing this type of uniform is not a gay thing. It is a practical thing. Get over yourself."

"Fine, whatever you say," Dave muttered quietly.

"You'll also have to tell me what the hell went down with you and Kurt, specifically. I need to know. We won't be in public tomorrow, so you'll have no excuse."

Dave didn't reply to that.

"And then on Monday we will present our ideas to Figgins and the glee club. You will have that speech memorized and we will get what we want."

"Um… okay." Dave reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"What's your address?" he asked, preparing to record it in the "notes" section.

Santana grabbed the phone out of his hands to just write it down for him.

"I'm giving you my phone number too. You can text me if you're gonna be late or whatever. So when do you plan to come over?"

"I guess right after school tomorrow is fine," Dave answered.

"Great." Santana smiled. "See you then." She got up to leave, then hesitated. "You want to walk me to my car?" She thought acting like a real couple might be nice to get started on as early as possible.

After a brief look of confusion, Dave replied, "Uh, why not?"

They walked toward the exit of the coffee shop.

"Do you want me to hold your hand?" he asked.

"That would be perfect," Santana replied, happy he was already playing along with the beards thing.

They linked hands, and proceeded out of the restaurant and toward Santana's car.


	3. Confessions

Dave drove over to Santana's house after school the next day, completely unsure of what he was going to say to her. She had demanded specifics on what he'd done to send Kurt all the way to that preppy school for prissy boys. He had _stupidly_ agreed to tell her the truth in private. So now he had to tell her _something_.

He figured he had one of three options. The first was that he could make up a lie, and convince her it was the truth. The problem was, he was having trouble thinking of any lies that would be worth saying. He didn't want to claim to have hurt Kurt physically in a way he hadn't before. That wasn't the kind of macho he wanted to be in Santana's eyes. Besides, she'd probably cause him real physical pain in retribution. So feeling unable to come up with a satisfactory lie, that led Dave to option number two: Tell Santana about the kiss. She already thought he was gay. It wouldn't be that big of a deal to admit it to her. Would it? But he was terrified of letting anyone know what he'd done. It was the most regrettable decision of his life. Embarrassing as hell. He'd barely admitted to himself that he'd done it. Which left him with his third and final option: telling Santana he'd threatened to kill Kurt. He hadn't even realized how seriously Kurt had taken it until they were there in the principal's office with their dads. He had wanted to scare him from letting out the truth about the kiss, of course, but… he would never have actually come close to killing the kid. He could tell Santana only about the threat and not why he'd given it, and explain to Santana that it was just a figure of speech. His darkest secret would still be hidden.

So yeah, as he pulled into the parking space in front of the apartment building where Santana lived, he settled on option number three. He'd have to admit to the death threat. He braced himself for whatever outrage Santana spewed on him and headed into the lobby of the building.

* * *

Santana didn't force him to confess to his sin right away. She instead had ushered him into the apartment, they'd whizzed past a Latina woman he'd assumed was her mother, and had ended up in her bedroom, door closed behind them. There, he immediately was presented with some fabric patterns and various materials including scissors and embroidery kits laid out on her bedspread.

"We have some work to do," she announced as she pushed him toward her small desk. "I'll take care of these uniforms, since I figure you don't know how to sew.

Karofsky raised one of his eyebrows, then shook his head vigorously. He certainly did not sew, nor would he _ever_.

"Right," Santana replied, not surprised. "So you should read over the speeches I've come up with on that laptop of mine. And tell me if you don't feel like any parts of them are good enough. I want both to be perfect."

"Uh… okay," Karofsky slowly replied. He started to step toward the computer.

"I'll get started on all of this," she added, gesturing over everything on her bed.

They worked for the better part of two hours on all of it. As Karofsky read through the speech he'd give to Principal Figgins, he was surprised by mentions of kids committing suicide.

"A little harmless bullying causes kids to feel that bad about themselves?" he asked.

"Harmless my ass," she replied snidely.

"But surely they are already depressed or something. How do they _know_ it was the bullying's fault?"

"They know, okay? Just accept that you're one of those jackasses who makes kids feel this worthless and get yourself prepared to admit to it. My plan won't work unless you do."

Karofsky sighed. This was gonna be harder than he thought.

He finished reading through the whole speech, and then assured Santana that it was fine.

When he read through the one he'd give the Glee kids, he was a little more hesitant to agree so easily. But ultimately he had to accept that he was gonna come to them and act like a completely tamed puppy, and however embarrassing it'd be, maybe it'd be nice too for them to not hate him so much. While he'd always wanted a strong, macho reputation, he'd never really wanted people to despise him the way the Glee club did these past few months.

Santana then forced him to memorize every single line of both speeches, and it was what seemed like an excessive amount of effort to Dave, but Santana had a lot of embroidery to do anyway. She somehow knew whenever he messed up even one word just slightly, so she would berate him into getting it right. By the end of all their efforts, Dave was exhausted. He had never done this much homework for something he wouldn't even be graded on. This was also, he realized, probably the least relaxing Friday afternoon he could remember.

Ready to finally head home, looking forward to his mom's delicious cooking and a break from the Santana madness, he gathered up his wallet and car keys.

"So I probably should get going," he began.

"Hold it, Mister," Santana abruptly halted him.

He stopped in his tracks.

"So you said you were gonna finally explain what drove Kurt away from our school. You better fess up before you leave here today."

Dave looked down at his feet. He'd been hoping she'd forgotten about that little deal they'd made.

"Uh…"

"Just tell me," she prodded.

"I kissed Kurt," he blurted out. He hadn't been prepared to let that secret out. He'd been planning to let out the other half of it. _Not_ that half. But after all that talk about bullies making kids want to kill _themselves_ , talking about him threatening Kurt in that way just felt like an unacceptable thing to admit. And without even really thinking it through, he had let out this truth instead.

Santana's eyes went wide. "You…?"

Dave nodded. There was no going back now. He… he did it, and he was admitting it.

"Wow," she replied, still in awe. "So wait." Some thoughts were catching up to her. "How _exactly_ did circumstances lead up to that event?"

Dave shuffled nervously, hesitating.

"Well, um… Kurt was standing up to me. He was all…" he trailed off, unsure of how to best explain it.

"Please go on," Santana insisted, her voice laced with superiority and impatience.

"We were alone in the locker room. Kurt had followed me in there. I just… I needed to shut him up. He was insulting me and he had _no idea_ and I just needed him to-" Dave cut himself off. He wasn't forming full sentences, but he was still saying more out loud than he'd ever really even admitted to himself.

Santana squinted at him.

"So you 'shut him up' with a kiss?" she asked skeptically.

Dave looked at her, not denying it.

"And then what?"

"He…" Dave considered, the memory playing back in his head all too vividly. "He kinda pushed me away," he explained, not wanting to admit that he'd gone in for a second kiss before that had happened. "And then I basically freaked out and ran away."

At that, Santana's lips curled into a smile. "Now that I know you a little better," she commented, "that does kinda sound like you." Her smile quickly faded, though. "So you gave Kurt an unwanted kiss. That… might explain him wanting to leave. But I don't quite buy it. He seemed utterly terrified of staying at the school. What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing! That was it, I swear," Dave lied.

"I don't believe you," Santana replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dave sighed. "Okay, well… I may have… maybe… um… threatened him a little after that."

Santana waited silently for him to continue.

Dave couldn't believe he was admitting this, but he didn't see any way out of it.

"I told him I'd kill him if he told anyone."

Santana's eyes went wide again. "Oh."

"I didn't mean it!" he started to defend himself.

"I understand now why he felt like he had to leave," Santana said, more to herself than to Dave.

"I really didn't think he'd-"

Santana cut him off. "No, you didn't think! And you?" Santana walked over to her bed, sitting down on the comforter and letting out a deep breath. "I can't imagine how scared Kurt was. You know, you could've killed him, if you wanted to."

"I feel really bad about it. I never would've wanted to actually kill him. Even if he _had_ told people." Dave desperately needed Santana to believe him.

"I believe you. I do," Santana responded. "But what you did… is kind of unforgivable. I just hope Kurt is willing to come back to the school, despite your idiocy."

 _I hope so too,_ Dave thought to himself.


	4. Sam

Karofsky left and Santana cleaned up the mess in her bedroom, satisfied that on Monday their plan would officially start to be set in action. That would also mean "going public" with their relationship, and she'd have to put up with some incredulity and probably some nasty comments from some of her closest friends. She would also have to break up with Sam, she realized. She wasn't a cheater. And the poor guy had just been cheated on. She needed to do the right thing this weekend.

She left her bedroom in search of wherever she left her cell phone. Entering the kitchen, she spotted it on the table. She also noticed her mother already cooking something for dinner.

"Mija, was that a new friend of yours? I didn't recognize him."

"Oh," Santana replied, hesitating but realizing that now would be as good a time as any to go public to her parents, too, if she was going to announce the relationship to the whole school on Monday.

"Is he from the glee club?" she asked kindly, knowing Santana usually only dated guys who weren't exactly that body type.

"No," Santana replied, trying to resist laughing at the notion of Dave Karofsky belting out showtunes. Her lips curled into a smile just the same.

"Oh," her mother replied, waiting for the answer.

"He's, um… my new boyfriend," Santana explained.

"Really?" Sasha Lopez replied, clearly surprised. She tried to cover her surprise because of his size as if it was for another reason. "Weren't you just in a relationship with another boy?"

"What? Oh, me and Sam? That was just a meaningless fling," she answered casually, pretending she could care less about hurting his feelings. In truth, she was dreading the break-up that she had to do as soon as possible, knowing that the boy was sweet and didn't deserve anymore heartache in his life.

"Okay," her mother answered, not quite sure how to react whenever her daughter treated dating like this. Sasha could not relate. She accepted her daughter deciding to become sexually active while still quite young, and had seen over the years that Santana was truly capable of not letting herself get emotionally scarred by anything having to do with her romances. She still, sometimes, worried about all of it, though. A part of her was afraid that Santana's behavior was not healthy. She also worried that Santana might come home pregnant one day, or with an STD. But she had reminded her daughter to use protection more than enough times, so now they were just… in a state of understanding with each other.

"So, what's for dinner?" Santana asked.

* * *

The next day, Santana scheduled a time to meet up with Sam at his house. She knew Sam had trouble getting anywhere on his own, even on the weekends, because his family only had the one car to share amongst all five of them. They had no money for even a relatively cheap used car for Sam to call his own. Sam had confided in her a couple weeks ago that the reason was his dad had lost his job and was having trouble finding new full-time employment. Sam was busy a lot, delivering pizzas pretty much every school night, and Santana realized that she'd only actually had "dates" with him outside of school maybe four times.

She arrived in his driveway and noticed his parents were having a yard sale, and they seemed to be selling some items they might've actually wanted to keep, like a pretty nice computer, various kitchen equipment, Sam's acoustic guitar, and a couple of televisions.

Sam's mother was standing behind a table waiting to sell some of the smaller items.

"Hi!" she called out when she was Santana exit her car. "Are you here for Sam?" she kindly asked.

"Um, yeah," Santana replied, looking around at the yard sale. She felt bad, like maybe she should be buying something. Were they really having that bad of money troubles?

"He's right inside, sweetie," she answered. "I think he was helping Stacey with her homework, but they're probably done now."

"Okay. Thanks," Santana replied.

She headed to the front door and let herself in, feeling fairly confident that what Sam's mom had just said to her constituted as permission.

Sure enough, Sam and one of his younger siblings, Stacey, were just finishing up the assignment. Sam was putting her folder back into her backpack while Stacey put her pencil back in her pencil case.

Sam turned his head to see his girlfriend come in.

"Santana! Hey!"

She smiled slightly.

"Hi," she replied.

"Thanks for coming over. My dad's using the car right now; he's across town with my brother."

"No problem," Santana replied. She looked down toward Stacey. Glancing back up at Sam, she asked, "Do you think we could maybe talk for a minute, somewhere a little more private?"

"Of course," he replied, still completely oblivious to the idea that anything was up. He smiled and grabbed her hand softly, just like the sweet boyfriend to her that he was. He led her upstairs into his bedroom.

Santana let herself be dragged in that direction, worried he might be expecting sex, or at least something other than talking. But she was slightly relieved with what he said as soon as they entered the room.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I… I wanted to do this in person," she started, and already Sam's face dropped a bit. He was still holding onto her hand, but she felt like maybe his grip had loosened ever so slightly.

He could tell this conversation was headed somewhere serious.

"I, well…" Santana faltered a bit. "I'm sorry, but I'm breaking up with you," she finally told him bluntly.

Sam let go of her hand. "What? Why?" he asked, clearly a bit hurt but more shocked than anything.

"It's… it's complicated," she answered truthfully. The real reason? She was a lesbian who wanted to start a new beard relationship with a fellow gay guy. She also had decided she wanted to win prom queen in order to win over Brittany's heart. It was hard to explain.

"I have time," Sam replied quietly but seriously, pressing her for more of an answer than that. He was clearly not gonna take this break-up without some explanation.

"Well… I'm starting to have feelings for someone else," she fibbed. The truth was, she'd been in love with Brittany for ages, and she maybe was starting a fake relationship with Karofsky, but she didn't feel a trace of romance toward him. Truth be told, she also had never felt anything more than simple friendship feelings for Sam either. So yeah… this feelings explanation was really a lie. But it was the best she could come up with.

Sam seemed disappointed. "Who?" he asked, which she knew was the logical next question.

"Well, his name's David," she said, not wanting to give away which David she was actually dating. She hoped using his full first name instead of "Dave" or "Karofsky" would leave Sam guessing until Monday after Karofsky had gotten a chance to give his apology speech to the glee club.

"Do I know him?" he asked, getting a bit more upset.

"I barely know him," she answered, evading the question. Of course Sam knew him. They were on the football team together. Sam had worn a black eye to Kurt and Finn's parents' wedding _because_ of him.

"But you already want to break up with me, for him?"

She could hear the hurt starting to really sink in for him. She felt bad. She decided there was nothing more she could do to make him feel better.

"I'm gonna go," she told him, ending the conversation. "See you in school on Monday," she added before turning around and starting to leave his bedroom. She listened, thinking maybe he'd try to stop her, but her ears picked up nothing. He was letting her go. And it was done. She walked back outside.

"Leaving so soon?" Sam's mother asked, surprised.

"Uh, yeah," Santana answered, not really wanting to give more of an explanation than that. She didn't think 'I just crushed your son's heart' was a good thing to say to any mother, ever.

"Okay," she replied, a little confused. "Bye!" she called out right before Santana got in her car.

Santana pulled the door open and shouted back, "Bye!", before hopping in and pulling the door shut.

Monday was gonna be interesting. That was for sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read this chapter, please do me a favor and leave me a review! Just so that I know who is still reading! It'd mean the world to me. ;) Seriously.
> 
> For this chapter, I re-watched 2x19 "Rumours" carefully and found that Santana did not seem aware of Sam's situation living in the motel, BUT she didn't act as surprised as most of the Glee club, in fact not really getting much of a role one way or the other at all. She blamed Sam for the rumors about him cheating with Kurt and Quinn but it's unclear what, exactly, Santana knew/what she even thought was Sam's fault. This chapter took place only 1 episode prior, in the middle of episode 2x18 "Born This Way" (as have all 4 chapters of the fic so far, actually) and Sam said his dad had lost his job "a few months ago" and "then" they'd lost their house. So I decided it'd be acceptable to make it so the Evans family moved into the motel sometime after Santana and Sam broke up.
> 
> Sorry this chapter had so few mentions of Karofsky in it, and I'm sorry Dave didn't even appear. Of course I alternate point of views, and so, at some point, a chapter should have a lot of Karofsky but very little Santana.
> 
> Also - I recently figured out I was asexual. I think that might be part of why I'm more interested in exploring something like the platonic relationship between Santana & Dave rather than writing a fic with the main focus being a romantic (and especially a potentially sexual) ship like Brittana or Kurtofsky. I don't experience sexual attraction, so while I can write about characters who most certainly do, like Santana and Dave both do, I prefer focusing on the moments when they don't experience it, or something. :P A lot of my fics are simply about family relationships, or various other things that end up leading to me writing a fic with very few, if any, mentions of the characters experiencing sexual attraction. :P
> 
> I plan to write a Glee fic soon where either Emma or Marley (or maybe both) are asexual. :P I am in the mood to finally address the issue head-on.


	5. Plans Set In Motion

Dave spent the weekend tempted to brag to his friend, Z, about him finally scoring a hot chick to call his own, or even tell his parents. His mom and dad had been on him for months - years maybe - to put himself out there and to just ask a girl on a date. But he sat in his bedroom, alone most of the weekend, playing _Battlefield: Bad Company 2_ , _Blur_ , and _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ on his computer, doing the homework he had to get done, and trying to distract himself from the fact that on Monday, his life would get a bit more complicated. He rehearsed the speeches Santana had written for him a few more times by just silently mouthing them, afraid if he spoke the words even in a whisper volume that his parents might hear. He didn't want to mess any of it up. Besides, Santana would probably kill him if he did.

When Monday morning came, Dave woke up earlier than normal. Santana said they had to meet in the school early to talk to Principal Figgins before school even started. So he showered and prepared for the day, running into his dad in the kitchen, for once their paths actually crossing before he left for work.

"What are you doing up so early?" he asked kindly, truly wondering.

"Um, I just have something I wanted to do before school," he answered vaguely.

"Alright," Paul replied to his son. He left the house as Dave poured himself some cereal. He ate two full bowls, because one was never filling enough, then grabbed his schoolbooks and was off.

Santana was already waiting for him in the parking lot when he arrived. She was carrying the Bullywhips uniforms in her arms, and he followed her to the principal's office. Figgins allowed them in.

"Miss Lopez. Mr. Karofsky." He looked at each of them in turn, knowing their names, which kind of surprised Dave. Figgins hadn't even been there when he'd been expelled briefly, that was when Coach Sylvester had been in his seat. But sure enough, he knew the names of most of his students. He made a point to pay attention to that kind of thing. And, Dave realized, he probably also was well aware of Dave's history with Kurt Hummel.

"Principal Figgins," Santana announced, confident and fully prepared. "We have a proposition for you. We'd like you to hear us out."

She turned to look at her pretend boyfriend, and he in turn began his speech. He explained how he'd learned the error of his ways, how Santana and he had come up with a new club to combat bullying, and how they even hoped to have a meeting in order to reach out to Kurt personally, through Principal Figgins arranging it and being there the whole time, if he'd be so helpful. Santana chimed in a couple times, but let Dave do the vast majority of the talking. Santana ended by asking if Figgins would help Karofsky apologize to the glee club, and Dave nodded in agreement that he wanted that.

Figgins considered their requests for a few moments.

"Let us give it a chance," he finally agreed. "What you are both proposing sounds as if it just might be what Mr. Hummel deserves. Bullying should be ended too." His speech was thick with his Pakistani accent.

Santana smiled.

"Thank you," Dave replied.

"I'll set up the meeting with Kurt and his parents for Friday," Principal Figgins finished.

Dave looked over at Santana. She seemed satisfied with that response.

They left the office together.

"Should I have told him that his mother is dead?" Santana asked Dave, commenting on how their principal had just used the plural form of 'parents'.

"Uh…" Dave trailed off, unsure of how to respond. He had no idea. He'd developed quite the crush on Kurt at some point, despite however much he might want to deny it. He knew very little about Kurt as a person, though. He hadn't realized just how much he didn't know the kid until Santana brought that up.

"I mean, I guess he still does have more than one parent," she continued. "He has Finn's mom as his new stepmom. I was at the wedding. So I guess he wasn't wrong to say 'parents,'" Santana finished, thinking out loud.

They made their way over to the bulletin board where clubs to join were posted.

"Hold these," she said, passing off the uniforms to Karofsky. He awkwardly accepted them on top of his arms.

Santana then pulled her bag around and opened it, pulling out a flyer for the Bullywhips she had created, along with contact info for anyone who wanted to join. She tacked it to the board, then took the clothing back.

"Hopefully people will want to join us," she commented. "If not, you and I can still do a great job, all on our own."

* * *

Glee was the first class on this particular day, and Santana parted ways from Dave temporarily, taking her seat at the back of the class. She let Karofsky meet up with the principal on his own and they'd enter the Glee classroom only after class had started.

Sure enough, the Glee club reacted viscerally the moment Dave set foot in the room. Even though Principal Figgins was walking alongside him and had immediately announced that David had something he wanted everyone to hear, everyone started murmuring about how he should leave and making it clear they were not okay with him being in their presence, and Dave tried to remain calm and brave. He didn't make eye contact with anyone. He waited for the class to quiet themselves. Figgins' requests helped and eventually the chattering did die down. Finn spoke for everyone to let Figgins know that they didn't care what he had to say. But everyone else stopped talking, and Finn did too, and Figgins then had a chance to properly address the club.

"Now I know David has had some issues in the past, but I have great respect for what he's doing right now, and I ask you to hear him out. Thank you."

"How about we punch his face out?" Sam suggested as an alternative, quietly. Dave looked up at Santana and saw her scowl at him.

"Okay," Mr. Schuester interjected. "That's enough, guys. Everyone listen up!"

The show choir director's instructions finally did the trick, and Karofsky gave his speech. He apologized for slushie-ing everyone, in addition for what he'd done to Kurt. He admitted that he was ashamed of who he was and what he did, finding the words surprisingly difficult to get out, now that he was in front of everyone, despite how many times he'd rehearsed the speech.

"Why should we believe you?" Puck asked a bit harshly. Dave got a little nervous. Answering a question like that wasn't part of the prepared speech. But he thought of a good answer on the fly.

"You don't have to. I know I'll need to earn your trust."

It was true. Dave had been thinking that for a while. A speech out of the blue wouldn't change the entire glee club's minds about how evil of a person he was, not instantaneously.

He then got to the part of the speech where he mentioned Santana's name. He credited her for his change of heart, and he could see every single pair of eyes in the room, even Mr. Schuester, grow wide in disbelief. He continued. When he finished this portion of the speech, Santana started speaking herself. She got up and walked down to him as she explained that they'd try to get Kurt come back so the McKinley glee club could win Nationals. Then she grabbed his hand as she announced that they… had fallen in love.

Dave was a little shocked by how the entire glee club reacted to that. Tina said she was gonna barf and Puck made a facial expression and contorted his body to express a similar sentiment.

"I want Kurt to feel safe to come back," Dave said, trying to ignore them all. "Which is why Santana and I have started a new club." He put his arm around her, trying to act lovingly. She acted along with him, leaning into the embrace and smiling. "The Bullywhips," Karofsky continued.

"Name was my idea," Santana explained. "We're gonna be like guardian angels."

Dave finished the speech. He could see everyone was still in a state of disbelief about everything he was proposing. His change of heart was surreal and honestly, he couldn't quite believe himself that Santana had roped him into doing it. At the same time though, he kind of felt proud of himself as he looked over and saw how pleased Principal Figgins seemed to be with the new David Karofsky.

"You can get on with your singing now," Principal Figgins told them, signaling to Dave that it was time to leave them be and let it all sink in. Karofsky took his arm off of Santana, and as he started to depart from the classroom, she called over to him.

"Dave!"

He turned back around to look at her.

"Let's put The Bullywhips into action starting during the break between this class and second period. 'Kay?" Her voice was almost sickeningly sweet. He forced a smile.

"Sounds great," he replied. "You can meet me outside Mrs. Allen's English classroom," he added, preparing to enter that class about five or ten minutes late now.

Principal Figgins happily escorted him out of the room. The Bullywhips was about to begin. Dave would have to get his parents… or at least his dad, since his mom worked insane hours… to agree to a meeting where they try to get Kurt back into school. Dave braced himself for the rest of his day, not really sure what to expect from any of it. At least he'd done his English reading, he thought as he approached that class.


End file.
